NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Quinlan McElroy-O'Driscoll hits his shot back to Khush Hetal Kotecha during a U16 boys match in the Alberta Outdoor Junior Open on Saturday, June 22, 2019 at Medicine Hat Tennis Club.
Medicine Hat’s junior tennis players got great experience as their club hosted the Outdoor Alberta Junior Open, but most of the weekend’s winners were from Calgary.
In under-18 girls, Calgary’s Piper Sartison beat Sophia Vedar 6-1 and 6-2. Medicine Hat’s Dannan O’Driscoll gave Sartison her closest match, a 6-2, 6-4 semifinal decision.
As for the rest of the Hat contingent, Quinlan O’Driscoll went 0-2 in the boys under-16 event, Ryder Siegers was 0-2 in under-14 boys, while Libby Bourassa was 1-1 in under-18 girls, beating fellow Hatter Brooke Pfeifer 6-3, 6-1 in the consolation final.
Another top-seeded Calgarian, Arthur McCarthy, beat Luca Macovei 6-3, 6-4 for the under-18 boys title. He then teamed up with Brandon Lin to win the doubles draw, an 8-4 pro-set win over James Holt and Kaetan Mehta. There weren’t enough girls to run an under-18 doubles event.
Mehta, also of Calgary, won the under-16 boys final 6-3 and 6-0 over Nolan Sax. Edmonton’s Holt was the under-14 boys winner, 7-6 (6) and 6-2 over Kai Baerg.
The weekend’s biggest draws were in the younger age groups. In under-14 girls, with 10 players entered, neither of the top two seeds made the final, won 6-3, 1-6 and 6-1 by Maya Elsaghir of Calgary over Anya Tkachyk. That also meant a decent turnout for the doubles draw, won 8-5 by Waverly Potter and Sophie Stanton against Ava Degrand and Madelynn Ludwig.
In under-12 boys it was Lucas Poirier of Calgary beating Edmonton’s Jaden Mah 6-0, 7-6 (6). Charles Flaman and Enoch Lin got to the singles semifinals, but together they won the doubles event, going 3-0 in a four-team round robin.
Seeded second, Calgary’s Sienna Miles beat No. 1 Julia Ionescu 6-3, 6-4 in under-12 girls.
